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August 22, 2004

Sunday

Ever so slowly, we are fixing this house up. One of the very irritating things about a house built in 1960 is that the cold air returns were made differently than they make them today. We painted the hallway last winter, but the cold air return was an icky, gross, peeling, hunk of rusty metal, and though we looked everywhere, we could not find the same type of cold air return to replace it. Finally John just bought a normal one - the kind that most homes use.

Today, I decided it was time to put the new cold air return in. You would not believe what a pain in the rear that was. The ductwork stuck out about an inch (because the old grate stuck out about an inch), and we had to make it flush with the wall. Also, the wood trim next to the floor needed to be trimmed about 1/4th of an inch for the new grate to fit flush against the wall.

Between John and I, we were able to fix it - using a wonderful powertool - RotoZip.. I was able to trim the wood molding without removing it to the perfect size, and John was able to trim back the tin of the ductwork by cutting it to size.

We bought that tool a few years ago and have only used it once before. I must say that I am very impressed with it. But it ain't cheap. But then, you get what you pay for.

Anyway, after living here for a very long time, the hallway looks nearly perfect. Now I just have to figure out which paintings and pictures to hang in it.

Posted by Beth at August 22, 2004 03:05 PM